why-gnu-linux.html (12730B)
1 <!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" --> 2 <!-- Parent-Version: 1.96 --> 3 <!-- This page is derived from /server/standards/boilerplate.html --> 4 <!--#set var="TAGS" value="gnulinux" --> 5 <!--#set var="DISABLE_TOP_ADDENDUM" value="yes" --> 6 <title>Why GNU/Linux? 7 - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title> 8 <!--#include virtual="/gnu/po/why-gnu-linux.translist" --> 9 <!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" --> 10 <!--#include virtual="/gnu/gnu-breadcrumb.html" --> 11 <!--GNUN: OUT-OF-DATE NOTICE--> 12 <!--#include virtual="/server/top-addendum.html" --> 13 <div class="article reduced-width"> 14 <h2>What's in a Name?</h2> 15 16 <address class="byline">by <a 17 href="https://www.stallman.org/">Richard Stallman</a></address> 18 19 <p> 20 Names convey meanings; our choice of names determines the meaning of 21 what we say. An inappropriate name gives people the wrong idea. A 22 rose by any other name would smell as sweet—but if you call it a pen, 23 people will be rather disappointed when they try to write with it. 24 And if you call pens “roses,” people may not realize what 25 they are good for. If you call our operating system 26 Linux, that conveys a mistaken idea of the system's 27 origin, history, and purpose. If you call 28 it <a href="/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html">GNU/Linux</a>, that conveys 29 (though not in detail) an accurate idea.</p> 30 31 <div class="announcement comment" role="complementary"> 32 <hr class="no-display" /> 33 <p>To learn more about this issue, you can read 34 our <a href="/gnu/gnu-linux-faq.html">GNU/Linux FAQ</a>, our page on 35 <a href="/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html">Linux and the GNU System</a>, which gives a history of the GNU/Linux system as it relates to this issue of naming, 36 and our page on <a href="/gnu/gnu-users-never-heard-of-gnu.html">GNU 37 Users Who Have Never Heard of GNU</a>.</p> 38 <hr class="no-display" /> 39 </div> 40 41 <p> 42 Does this really matter for our community? Is it important whether people 43 know the system's origin, history, and purpose? Yes—because people 44 who forget history are often condemned to repeat it. The Free World 45 that has developed around <a href="/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html">GNU/Linux</a> 46 is not guaranteed to survive; the problems that 47 led us to develop GNU are not completely eradicated, and they threaten 48 to come back.</p> 49 50 <p> 51 When I explain why it's appropriate to call the operating system 52 GNU/Linux rather than Linux, people 53 sometimes respond this way:</p> 54 55 <blockquote><p> 56 <em> 57 Granted that the GNU Project deserves credit for this work, is 58 it really worth a fuss when people don't give credit? Isn't the 59 important thing that the job was done, not who did it? You 60 ought to relax, take pride in the job well done, and not worry 61 about the credit. 62 </em> 63 </p></blockquote> 64 <p> 65 This would be wise advice, if only the situation were like that—if 66 the job were done and it were time to relax. If only that were true! 67 But challenges abound, and this is no time to take the future for 68 granted. Our community's strength rests on commitment to freedom and 69 cooperation. Using the name <a href="/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html">GNU/Linux</a> 70 is a way for people to remind 71 themselves and inform others of these goals.</p> 72 73 <p> 74 It is possible to write good free software without thinking of GNU; 75 much good work has been done in the name of Linux also. But the term 76 “Linux” has been associated ever since it was first coined 77 with a philosophy that does not make a commitment to the freedom to 78 cooperate. As the name is increasingly used by business, we will 79 have even more trouble making it connect with community spirit.</p> 80 81 <p> 82 A great challenge to the future of free software comes from the 83 tendency of the “Linux” distribution companies to add 84 nonfree software to <a href="/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html">GNU/Linux</a> 85 in the name of convenience and power. All the major commercial 86 distribution developers do this; none limits itself to free software. 87 Most of them do not clearly identify the nonfree 88 packages in their distributions. Many even develop nonfree software 89 and add it to the system. Some outrageously advertise 90 “Linux” systems that are “licensed per seat,” 91 which give the user as much freedom as Microsoft Windows.</p> 92 93 <p> 94 People try to justify adding nonfree software in the name of the 95 “popularity of Linux”—in effect, valuing popularity above 96 freedom. Sometimes this is openly admitted. For instance, Wired 97 Magazine said that Robert McMillan, editor of Linux Magazine, “feels 98 that the move toward open source software should be fueled by 99 technical, rather than political, decisions.” And Caldera's 100 <abbr title="Chief Executive Officer">CEO</abbr> openly urged 101 users 102 to <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/stallman-love-is-not-free/">drop 103 the goal of freedom and work instead for the “popularity of 104 Linux”</a>.</p> 105 106 <p> 107 Adding nonfree software to the <a 108 href="/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html">GNU/Linux</a> system may increase the 109 popularity, if by popularity we mean the number of people using some 110 of <a href="/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html">GNU/Linux</a> in combination with 111 nonfree software. But at the same time, it implicitly encourages the 112 community to accept nonfree software as a good thing, and forget the 113 goal of freedom. It is not good to drive faster if you can't stay on the 114 road.</p> 115 116 <p> 117 When the nonfree “add-on” is a library or programming 118 tool, it can become a trap for free software developers. When they 119 write free software that depends on the nonfree package, their 120 software cannot be part of a completely free system. Motif and Qt 121 trapped large amounts of free software in this way in the past, 122 creating problems whose solutions took years. Motif remained somewhat 123 of a problem until it became obsolete and was no longer used. Later, 124 Sun's nonfree Java implementation had a similar effect: 125 the <a href="/philosophy/java-trap.html">Java Trap</a>, fortunately now 126 mostly corrected.</p> 127 128 <p> 129 If our community keeps moving in this direction, it could redirect the 130 future of <a href="/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html">GNU/Linux</a> into a mosaic of free and nonfree components. 131 Five years from now, we will surely still have plenty of free 132 software; but if we are not careful, it will hardly be usable without 133 the nonfree software that users expect to find with it. If this 134 happens, our campaign for freedom will have failed.</p> 135 136 <p> 137 If releasing free alternatives were simply a matter of programming, 138 solving future problems might become easier as our community's 139 development resources increase. But we face obstacles that threaten 140 to make this harder: laws that prohibit free software. As software 141 patents mount up, and as laws like the 142 <abbr title="Digital Millennium Copyright Act">DMCA</abbr> are 143 used to prohibit the development of free software for important jobs 144 such as viewing a DVD or listening to a RealAudio stream, we will find 145 ourselves with no clear way to fight the patented and secret data 146 formats except to <strong>reject the nonfree programs that use 147 them</strong>.</p> 148 149 <p> 150 Meeting these challenges will require many different kinds of effort. 151 But what we need above all, to confront any kind of challenge, is to 152 remember the goal of freedom to cooperate. We can't expect a mere 153 desire for powerful, reliable software to motivate people to make 154 great efforts. We need the kind of determination that people have 155 when they fight for their freedom and their community—determination 156 to keep on for years and not give up.</p> 157 158 <p> 159 In our community, this goal and this determination emanate mainly from 160 the GNU Project. We're the ones who talk about freedom and community 161 as something to stand firm for; the organizations that speak of 162 “Linux” normally don't say this. The magazines about 163 “Linux” are typically full of ads for nonfree software; 164 the companies that package “Linux” add nonfree software 165 to the system; other companies “support Linux” by 166 developing nonfree applications to run on GNU/Linux; the user groups 167 for “Linux” typically invite salesman to present those 168 applications. The main place people in our community are likely to 169 come across the idea of freedom and determination is in the GNU 170 Project.</p> 171 172 <p> 173 But when people come across it, will they feel it relates to them?</p> 174 175 <p> 176 People who know they are using a system that came out of the GNU 177 Project can see a direct relationship between themselves and GNU. 178 They won't automatically agree with our philosophy, but at least they 179 will see a reason to think seriously about it. In contrast, people 180 who consider themselves “Linux users,” and believe that 181 the GNU Project “developed tools which proved to be useful in 182 Linux,” typically perceive only an indirect relationship between 183 GNU and themselves. They may just ignore the GNU philosophy when they 184 come across it.</p> 185 186 <p> 187 The GNU Project is idealistic, and anyone encouraging idealism today 188 faces a great obstacle: the prevailing ideology encourages people to 189 dismiss idealism as “impractical.” Our idealism has been 190 extremely practical: it is the reason we have a 191 free <a href="/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html">GNU/Linux</a> operating system. 192 People who love this system ought to know that it is our idealism made 193 real.</p> 194 195 <p> 196 If “the job” really were done, if there were nothing at 197 stake except credit, perhaps it would be wiser to let the matter drop. 198 But we are not in that position. To inspire people to do the work 199 that needs to be done, we need to be recognized for what we have 200 already done. Please help us, by calling the operating 201 system <a href="/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html">GNU/Linux</a>.</p> 202 203 <hr class="no-display" /> 204 <div class="edu-note c"><p id="fsfs">This essay is published in 205 <a href="https://shop.fsf.org/product/free-software-free-society/"><cite>Free 206 Software, Free Society: The Selected Essays of Richard 207 M. Stallman</cite></a>.</p></div> 208 </div> 209 210 </div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above --> 211 <!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" --> 212 <div id="footer" role="contentinfo"> 213 <div class="unprintable"> 214 215 <p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to 216 <a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. 217 There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a> 218 the FSF. Broken links and other corrections or suggestions can be sent 219 to <a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>.</p> 220 221 <p><!-- TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph, 222 replace it with the translation of these two: 223 224 We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality 225 translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection. 226 Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard 227 to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org"> 228 <web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p> 229 230 <p>For information on coordinating and contributing translations of 231 our web pages, see <a 232 href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations 233 README</a>. --> 234 Please see the <a 235 href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations 236 README</a> for information on coordinating and contributing translations 237 of this article.</p> 238 </div> 239 240 <!-- Regarding copyright, in general, standalone pages (as opposed to 241 files generated as part of manuals) on the GNU web server should 242 be under CC BY-ND 4.0. Please do NOT change or remove this 243 without talking with the webmasters or licensing team first. 244 Please make sure the copyright date is consistent with the 245 document. For web pages, it is ok to list just the latest year the 246 document was modified, or published. 247 248 If you wish to list earlier years, that is ok too. 249 Either "2001, 2002, 2003" or "2001-2003" are ok for specifying 250 years, as long as each year in the range is in fact a copyrightable 251 year, i.e., a year in which the document was published (including 252 being publicly visible on the web or in a revision control system). 253 254 There is more detail about copyright years in the GNU Maintainers 255 Information document, www.gnu.org/prep/maintain. --> 256 257 <p>Copyright © 2000, 2007, 2021 Richard Stallman</p> 258 259 <p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license" 260 href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">Creative 261 Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.</p> 262 263 <!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" --> 264 265 <p class="unprintable">Updated: 266 <!-- timestamp start --> 267 $Date: 2021/11/02 12:34:35 $ 268 <!-- timestamp end --> 269 </p> 270 </div> 271 </div><!-- for class="inner", starts in the banner include --> 272 </body> 273 </html>